Stoney Lake Onwards

Thursday, July 15th
The WiFi Antenna works. Without it I got an unusable signal from the Resort, with it I got a good solid wifi connection.

This is all rock

We did some housecleaning this morning, had lunch and then left for an anchorage in the middle of Stoney Lake. We had met a fishing guide at the resort and when we told him about Carole's search for the cabin she used to vacation in, he showed us a place we could anchor nearby and be able to take Annie to shore. Since almost all of the islands and shoreline are private you can not go ahsore just anywhere, so his advice was appreciated. The trip took all of 45 minutes and we were anchored (for the first time this trip) in 15' of water by 2:00. We were surrounded on 3 sides by islands, all rocky. The bottom is rock also. It is really strange. The wind is light so most of our anchor chain is laying on the bottom and as the boat swings we can here the chain dragging across the rocks. A bit different than the muddy bottom on the Chesapeake.
We took a ride in the dinghy to “Carole's” island. She was surprised that after 58 years there was much that had not changed. I was surprised that she recognized it and also that she was able to pick it out from a chart! After all, she was only 12 the last time she was there and at that age who thought about how she got there. The building had been refurbished and was quite different, but the property ( and nearby properties) still had the same layout.
Friday, July 16th

We took another tour of the area and stopped at the property to see if there was anyone she could talk to. We found a woman sunning herself on the boathouse deck and she came down to talk to us. Turns out they had only bought the property a month ago. She (Karen) and her husband, Mike, knew a lot of the history, and was interested in more. He knew of the woman that Carole's family had been there with. When Carole mentioned about when she had been there Mike immediately asked if it was Billinghurst or McDonald? It was Billinghurst who Carole had lost touch with. She had owned and visited the property until she was in her nineties and played bridge with one of the locals for many years. She had sold it in 2001. They gave us a tour of the property and offered a house tour, but it had been changed so much that Carole only took a quick one. It was really great. We left with a promise to send them any pictures Carole could find from when they visited as they were quite interested in the history.
We had been told by our Canadian friends on “Scallywag” that lots on the lake sell for 3-400 thousand. Mike corrected that to ½ million. Also the zoning laws do not allow new building within 150' of the lake front so they need to build on the old footprint. 150' back from the lake and there is no view. Trees can not be taken down either.
We made a visit to a nearby island for Annie to romp and swim.
Actually made coffee this morning without starting the generator! We may be getting a handle on this power thing. I will keep on trying things until we find the limits and then live with it.

In charts we trust!

I finished the morning by puncturing the dinghy. No more anchoring until I repair it. Fortunately we will have many more lock walls to tie up to.
Raised the anchor about noon and headed back to the waterway. We were tied up at lock 31 by 3:30. The last few days have been really nice. The rocky river and islands are fascinating. Running in a channel where you can rocks underwater alongside brings out meaning of “Trust your charts”. I am really enjoying it.
We ½ way through the Trent-Severn Waterway.
Tomorrow is Saturday, it might be interesting finding space at a lock wall.
Saturday July 17th
Clear, cool and windy again.
Terrain is changing, while it is still rocky, there less conifers and more deciduous trees. The lake shores are lined with homes. We traveled through several lakes and ended up at Bobcaygeon. We stayed below the lock as there was no room above it. I was ever hopeful that I would find space above the lock as it would be cooler there, so spent a good deal of time lock watching. Had a good show watching rental houseboats trying to maneuver in the wind. The operators tend to be inexperienced and the boats are underpowered, they really get banged up quite a bit. We got lucky as the weather cooled down a lot and we stayed below the lock.
Sunday, July 18th
More lakes – cool weather (long pants). Stopped to shop in Fenlon Falls, then headed out to lock 35 – Rosedale.
A very isolated area. We had cocktails with 3 other boaters. It ended when the rain started about suppertime.
I have one more of my electrical glitches worked out. The generator needs to run off the house battery, which gets charged while the generator is running. Otherwise it drains the engine batteries which are not charged by the generator. Still more stuff to work through.
Monday, July 19th
Hard to believe we have been gone 7 weeks. In some ways it feels like we just left and other times it is like we have already been gone a year. We certainly miss all of our friends at home. In addition we are now missing some of our travel friends who moved ahead while we were package waiting. Of course we are meeting lots of new people, some of whom we will call friends at some point. All have been fun to spend time with, and of course they are always a good excuse to avoid work on the boat.
I have a really good arsenal of excuses, being sociable is just one of them. When we stop at night it is too hot in the engine room. In the morning I do not want to wake Carole up. When we are at a Marina I do not want to turn off the shore power. When Carole is cooking I can not open the floor boards to get in the engine room or get in her way, etc. etc.
Tonight we stopped at Thorah another very isolated lock. I sat for and talked with the operators for quite a while, fished a bit, but mostly just hung out.
Tuesday, July 20th to Thursday, July 22nd
Port Orillia has a 3 nites for the price of 2. How can we pass that up? Used the time to get some shopping in and I get a much needed haircut. Carole was able to sew a No-see-um screen for the salon door and I installed some snaps. Now we can leave the door open at night.
Tuesday one of the 9 loopers that are here organized a “standing room only” cocktail party. There is no drinking at the park so we had to have it on the dock. There are no tables and chairs on the docks – ergo standing room only.
We also spent an evening with Randy and Barb on “Lazy Dolphin”. They had us over for a glass of wine (Their after dinner – ours before) . Randy loaned me a battery charger to see if the engine batteries were any good since my tests showed them marginal. Turns out one is bad the other seems to be O.K. I think that are secondary charge system in the inverter is not working and will need to be replaced.
Friday, July 23rd
Hazy, overcast, drizzling

Carole and Sue relaxing at the lock

Head out of Orillia and hook up with Joe and Sue on “Quixote” (the original name of our boat) on the trip. It cleared a bit and was a pleasant ride through some narrow, windy, channels. We stopped at Swift Rapids lock 43. This place is so remote that the operators get here by boat in the morning. It is also the highest conventional lock in the system at 43 ft. Annie had a ball here – two of the kids on the boat next to us threw the ball for her (their dog – a retriever- had no interest in retrieving). One of the lock operators told me of a stand of wild raspberries, so I picked some for Carole's dessert. Even with the other boats at the lock it was a very quiet evening.
Saturday, July 24th

At the bottom of lock 43

I was glad we stayed above the lock. I learned that at 5:30 am about 40 swimmers accompanied by Kayaks and canoes were dropped off for an 8 mile down river charity swim. We passed them all as we went on down.
At 1030 we stopped at Big Chute Railway for the night. We got to cheer the swimmers in as they arrived.
We toured the Big Chute Railway and I was really impressed by this piece of machinery. In place of a lock they built a rail car to take the boats over a hill and put them back in the water on the other side. The reason we were given was to prevent Lamprey eels from invading the fish population in Lake Simcoe. To call it an oversized travel lift is a major understatement. (For the non-boaters a travel lift is a large wheeled cage that has straps that can be lowered in to the water and then raised to pick up the boat and carry it to a spot on land where it can be blocked up for storage or other work).

Big Chute Railway

When the car comes over the hill it resembles some “Star Wars” creation. The car is set up remotely by the operators on board to accommodate the boats that are waiting to travel over the hill. It can hold up to 9 (16') small boats – 3 across and 3 deep. The larger boats will go 1 or 2 at a time depending on whether they can sit on their bottom without damage. The straps are only used to keep the boats upright. The carriage then goes up the hill across a road and down the other side. It says level all the way. If you are looking for hydraulics or a mechanical leveling system you will not find it. It is kept level by running the wheels on two different tracks. One end travels on an inside track and the other end on the outside tracks. I expect to post pictures and video.



Sunday, July 25th

We are first on the blue line this morning. (The blue line is a section of the lock where you tie up to indicate that you are ready to lock through). Because of the bottom shape of the two boats waiting we had to go one at a time. Our bottom will not allow us to sit directly on the keel without damaging the rudder so we went over the top with about 4' of boat hanging off the end. We then got a rather fun ride over the hill, followed by an exiting ride down river through another narrow gorge with the current running hard behind us.

A wee bit tight

The Lock at Port Severn comes up quickly. We are squeezed in to the lock with three other boats and we are in the Georgian Bay. Several more narrow windy channels later we head for Midland.
Stopped at the town dock to do some sightseeing and then anchored out across the bay.









No More Locks til Chicago!!!!